Adjustable magazine



Jan. 15, 1935. c. D. RYAN ADJUSTABLE MAGAZINE Filed July 28, 1934 Commodoreilkyan in Guam/W134 Patented Jan. 15, 1935 PATENT OFFICE 1,987,803 ADJUSTABLE Commodore D. Ryan, Los Angeles, Calif assignor to Nationale Postal :Meter Company, Los An- I geles, Galif.,.a corporation-01* California Applicationluly- 28, 1934, Serial No. 737,410 a Glaima. {or 271-41.

' invention relates. toan= adjustable magae zine for an article feeding. machine,'..whereby the magazine may be easily and correctly adjusted.

tosuit the size of each lot of articles .to be fed.

. A. form of the invention which is. particularly suited for use in envelope sealing, and' postage printing machines has been chosen. for the purpose of illustration and. description. Such a. sealing and printing'machine'is fully disclosed. inthe A Finfrock, etv al. application for UnitedStatesLetF ters Patent. SerialNo. l23,0'94', filedA-pril 3.0, 1934'.

tion' to 'remove the necessity for care on the part.

offthe operative whenadjusting the side. walllof the magazine and' to thereby remove one of the sources of needless trouble arising from the impropenuse of the machine by providing a magazinelsidewalliadiusting means which will automaticallyi'space this. walla predetermined dis-, tjance from the. placed mailimatter when adjusted. into engagement therewith: In otherwordsjby the use of this'invention, the judgment and" care of, the operative while. adjusting the magazine is done away with and thus an annoying source ofnedless trouble eliminated; ,A further object is to provide such an automatic spacing means for themagazine which will be simple in operation and rugged in construction'.

.I'hemanner in which the foregoingobjjects'are attainedyas well as further o'bjects'and advan-" tagesfwill' be apparent from the, following. de scription made in connection with the accom panying drawing, in which; Figure l illustrates a plan'viewofthe adjustable magazine of this invention as applied to. a sealing and printing machine. Only a smallporti'on. of the-machine hasbeen shown. I Figure 2 illustratesa fragmenta-l' sectionalview taken substantially in. the plane. of line 2-2. of.

Figure-4 illustrates a fragmental view taken substantially in. the plane of line 4-4 'of Fig. 2; and

Figure 5 illustrates abottom plan view of Fig. 4'.

IniFigure: lithe adjustable magazine 10 is shown as mounted upon the lower front corner of a seal ing. and postage printingjmachine I1.

The magazine 10 may include a rear wall 12, an endwall'l3 anda' bottom plate 14. The lower end of the walll'3and the adjacent portion of the bottom plate 14 may be su'fliciently cut away to permit the envelopes 15 to be fed or withdrawn therethrouglr by alsuita'bleconveyer means, not. shown. Slidably mounted upon the bottom plate is a rider 16 having. an inclined surface 17. for feathering thev envelopes in. the usual manner. The rider I6" is adjustable to accommodate envelopes of different lengths. Thus far described the magazine is of conventional design.

Adjustable. sizzle: wall The side wall" 18 is made-adjustable to enable the magazine to successfully handle envelopes or" different widths. For this purpose the side or adjustable wall 18 may'besuitably' fastened to' the upturned end 19 of a supporting guide meme ber' '20, while thehorizontal portion 21 of this member maybe'slidably'mounted upon the under surface" of; the bottom plate 14-. To slidably mount the horizontal portion 21 of member uponthe-magazine bottom plate, a formed bearing plate 22 may be mounted to the under surface of theplate 14'- as' by means of posts 23. A'flat spring 24 maybefastened to the bottom of plate 14 as by'r'ivets 25 and may act between the bottom surface-of the plate 14" and the upper surface of'the horizontal portion 21' of the guide member 20 toj'set up sufiicient resistance to sliding movement of the member to yieldingly retain the side wall-'l8'at itsadjus-tedposition. To 'limit'the outwardmovement of wall 1-8, a stop pin 26' may be fastened to the rear end of the horizontal portion 21 of the guide member 20 and adapted to engage the rearedge'ofthe bearing plate 22when the wall has been pulled out to the limit of its travel; i 1

B'yso mountingv the adjustable wall 18, it may be freely moved to any position within the extreme limits of its travel and will be yieldingly held at any of its adjusted positions due to the action of. spring 24'. g

The adjustment of wall '18 to suit the size of a particular lot of envelopes may be made as follows. Envelopes of a selected size may be placed in the magazine asindicated at 1'5 and wall 18 moved until the inner face thereof will engage the adjacent edges of the placed envelopes, whereupon to free the envelopes for proper feeding the wall 18 will have to be moved outwardly a sum-- cient distance so as to avoid clamping the envelopes in the magazine. If the adjustable wall 18 is not moved outwardly to free the envelopes, the feed mechanism will not act reliably to remove the envelopes from the magazine. It is, therefore, important to provide means which will automatically move the adjustable wall 18 outwardly a predetermined distance after having been brought into engagement with the adjacent edges of the placed envelopes.

Automatic retracting means for the adjastable wall The automatic retracting means for the adjusted. The bearing plate 28 may be supported from.

the posts 23 by a suitable spring means 30. The spring means 30 is designed to act against the bearing member 28 and to force this member into contact with the actuating member 27 so that the bearing member 28 will act as a braking surface against the actuating member 27 to yieldingly retain the actuating member in any position to which it may be adjusted. The outer forward end of the actuating member 27 may be bent upwardly, as at 31, and the portion 31 provided at its upper end with a finger grip 32. The adjustable wall 18 and the upturned portion 31 of the actuating member 27 may be connected by a limited motion means 33 which, in this instance, may include a flanged stud 3'7 riveted to the adjustable wall 18 and projecting therefrom through a suitable bore formed in the finger grip 32 and carrying at its outer end a push button 34. The bore of the finger grip piece 32 may be counterbored as at 35 to receive asuitable compression spring 36 and the inner end of the push button 34. By this arrangement, the spring means 36 will normally act to maintain shoulder 38 of the flanged stud in engagement with the inner face of the finger grip 32 but may be compressed by pressing upon the push button 34 whereby the wall 18 may be moved inwardly a distance equal to the length of travel of the push button before the head thereof engages the outer end of the finger grip piece 32. The length of travel permitted by the limited motion means is governed by the shoulderj38 engaging one face of the finger piece 32 and the head of the push button moving into engagement with the other face of the finger piece, and is arranged to move the adjustable wall a predetermined distance from the envelopes. r

The limited motion means acts to permit the adjustable wall 18 to be moved a predetermined distance back and forth with respect to its actuating member 27 whereby, during the adjustment of the wall, it will be moved this predetermined distance toward the envelopes and when released after having been moved into engagement with the adjacent edges of the envelopes will be automatically retracted due to the action of spring 36 to space the wall this predetermined distance as governed by the limited motion means to free the envelopes for feeding.

It will be understood that the sliding resistance of the actuating member 27 caused by its bearing plate 28 and spring means 30 is greater than the yielding resistance caused by the spring means 24 acting against the horizontal portion 21 of the guide member 20; while the tension of spring 36, when compressed, will be sufficiently strong to easily move the guard member but will be unable to move the actuating member 27. It is due to this relation that the adjustable wall 18 will be retracted upon release of the push button while the actuating member remains in its adjusted position.

Operation In the operation of the sealing and postage printing machine, envelopes, or other matter to be treated, are segregated as to length and width and when envelopes of a certain width are to be treated the operative may, by means of the finger grip 32, shift the adjustable wall 18 outwardly a sufficient distance to receive the selected matter. Whereupon the operative, by gripping the finger piece 32 between the index and middle fingers, as illustrated in Figure 2, and pressing upon the push button'34 with the thumb may first shift the adjustable wall 18 inwardly toward the mail matt'er the predetermined distance governed by the limited motion means and by continued pressure upon the thumb piece 34 may slide the entire assembly until the adjustable wall 18 is brought into contact with the adjacent edges of the placed mail matter. The operative may, thereafter, release these means, whereupon, due to the action of spring 36, the adjusting wall 18 will be shifted outwardly until the shoulder 38 of the flanged stud is again brought into engagement with the inner face of the finger grip. This last motion of the adjustable wall 18 is automatic and will act accurately and positively to retract the wall a predetermined distance from the adjacent edges of the placed envelopes to permit the same to be freely withdrawn from the magazine.

' Having fully described the invention, it is to be understood that it is not to be limited to the details herein set forth but the invention is of the fullscope'of the appended claims.

' I claim:

1. In an adjustable magazine, an adjustable wall for the magazine, an actuating member for said wall, means for yieldingly resisting movement of said member, and spring weighted means operatively connecting said wall and member and operable for actuating the same for adjusting the wall into engagement with articles placed in the magazine and when released automatically operable for retracting the wall a predetermined distance from the articles for freeing the articles for dispensation from the magazine.

2. In an adjustable magazine, an adjustable wall for the magazine, an actuating member, means for yieldingly resisting movement of said member, a limited motion means operatively connecting said wall and member, and a spring means associated with said limited motion means for yieldingly maintaining the wall in its retracted position and having insufficient strength to move the actuating member against its resisting means.

8. In an adjustable magazine, an adjustable wall for the magazine, an actuating member, means for yieldingly resisting movement of said member, a limited motion means operatively connecting said wall and member, a spring means operatively associated with said motion means and of less tension than the force necessary to move the member, and means operable for actuating the limited motion means against the action of said spring means for displacing the adjustable wall a predetermined distance toward such articles as are placed in the magazine and then operable for moving the actuating member to bring said wall into engagement with the placed articles and finally upon release thereof operable through the limited motion spring means for automatically withdrawing the wall a predetermined distance from the placed articles.

4. In an adjustable magazine, an adjustable wall, a slidably mounted supporting guide means for said wall, means for yieldingly resisting move,-

ment of said guide means, a slidably mounted actuating member, means for yieldingly resisting movement of said actuating member to a greater degree than the corresponding means for said guide means, a limited motion means operatively connecting said guide means and actuating member, and a spring means operatively associated with said limited motion means having sufiicient strength to actuate the guide means against its resisting means but having insufficient strength to move the actuating member against its resisting means.

COMMODORE D. RYAN. 

